Public Occurrences September 26, 2025

Comey Confusion: Did They Indict?

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lindsey Vaala to Trump prosecutor Lindsey Halligan:

"So this has never happened before. I've been handed two documents that are in the Mr. Comey case that are inconsistent with one another. There seems to be a discrepancy. They're both signed by the (grand jury) foreperson.

"The one that says it's a failure to concur in an indictment, it doesn't say with respect to one count. It looks like they failed to concur across all three counts, so I'm a little confused as to why I was handed two things with the same case number that are inconsistent."

Halligan to Vaala: 

"So I only reviewed the one with the two counts that our office redrafted when we found out about the two — two counts that were true billed, and I signed that one. I did not see the other one. I don't know where that came from," 

Vaala to Halligan:

"You didn't see it?" 

Halligan to Vaala:

"I did not see that one."

Vaala to Halligan:

"So your office didn't prepare the indictment that they —"

Halligan to Vaala:

"No, no, no — I — no, I prepared three counts. I only signed the one — the two-count (indictment). I don't know which one with three counts you have in your hands."

Vaala to Halligan:

"Okay. It has your signature on it."

Halligan to Vaala:

"Okay. Well."

CBS, which got the transcript.

8:14 pm:

America 2.0

A conviction may be beside the point for the Justice Department as it pursues case against Comey

As the administration aims to comply with Trump’s ordered prosecutions, officials have signaled that making life uncomfortable for targets of the retribution — including through reputational harm, legal fees and lingering uncertainty — is a desired goal in its own right, separate and apart from the ability to secure a guilty verdict. 

...

In May, Ed Martin, who leads the administration’s “weaponization working group,” pledged to call out “really bad actors” even when they can’t be prosecuted and even though longstanding Justice Department policies dictate against public disparagement of the uncharged.

“If they can be charged,” he said, “we will charge them. If they cannot be charged, we will name them. In a culture that respects shame, there should be people who are shamed.”

...

Trump proclaims ‘justice’

Trump has loudly cheered the indictment with social media posts over the last day that say “JUSTICE IN AMERICA”...

...

The fact that Trump is making posts expressing profound personal satisfaction while a case is pending — potentially endangering its viability in court — is one indication that the administration has other goals besides getting a conviction, said Peter Keisler, a former Justice Department official who served as acting attorney general for a period during President George W. Bush’s administration.

“If you cared about actually making it stick, you wouldn’t have the president issue public statements advertising his vindictive motive,” he said.

Though vindictive prosecution motions don’t often succeed, “This is one of the very rare cases where the public record — and it’s a public record that the president himself has built — would make such a motion very strong,” Keisler added.

“It’s still the case that Jim Comey has to retain a lawyer, has to go through the process of being criminally tried if he doesn’t get the case dismissed first. And nobody can face the prospect of a criminal trial with complete equanimity even when they know there’s no merit to the charge and even when it’s a public fact that the only reason it was sought is as an act of vindictive retribution.”

AP

5:10 pm:

Trump Now Going to Arrest George Soros

A senior Justice Department official has instructed more than a half dozen U.S. attorney’s offices to draft plans to investigate a group funded by George Soros, the billionaire Democratic donor whom President Trump has demanded be thrown in jail.

The official’s directive, a copy of which was viewed by The New York Times, goes as far as to list possible charges prosecutors could file, ranging from arson to material support of terrorism. The memo suggests department leaders are following orders from the president that specific people or groups be subject to criminal investigation...

The step came in an accelerated push by the Justice Department against Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies in recent days and weeks.

...After the killing of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in Utah this month, the president threatened to use the levers of government to silence liberal protesters and donors to progressive groups, including Mr. Soros.

Nytimes



4:45 pm:

Mass Walkout at United Nations for Netanyahu Speech